Dell Vista Laptop frustrations

Hi, I have just registered.
I am interested in computers having started with a TRS 16K level 2 in 1981, followed by a BBC model B, followed by a PackardBell 16MHz PC. I then bought an Acorn RISC computer upgraded to StrongArm and only changed bacvk to PCs because I needed email facilities.

My wife has my old Desktop which had W98 and which has been upgraded to XP SP3 (from a new XP upgrade). This is an Intel Pentium3 732MHz with 512 MB Ram and serves her purpose for emails and word processing.

Two weeks ago I ordered a Dell Inspiron Laptop with Dual2Core processor, 2GB RAM and 250MBHD. It came with Vista just a week ago. I successfully connected the laptop to my wireless modem and two other desktops. I deleted McAfee and installed Avast and ZoneAlarm which caused problems. I ended up with open windows on the screen when setting up Avast which I could not remove. Even the TaskManager would not close this application. I opened folders to put photo images in and before I could the open folders disappeared. Vista upgraded each time I connected to the internet.
I have become so frustrated with Vista. I asked Dell to replace Vista with XP but they said they could not. I have reluctantly requested Dell to collect the laptop and refund my money.
Have other Vista users found similar experiences to me?

But because the Ram was only recently upgraded, there is a high possibility of that:
Please run Memtest on your Ram

I sense a Vista owner who has discovered they do not like Vista after all though
Oh and I came from similar days, but never owned a computer until about 4sim cards of 1meg ram (might have been 2sims cards, can't remember) But involved in computers before that as well